Jake Wallis Simons (@JakeWSimons) is a Telegraph features writer, novelist and broadcaster. His website is jakewallissimons.com. Follow him on Facebook here and on Twitter here. His fourth novel, Jam, which is set in a traffic jam on the M25, is out now.

Israel's latest move has its friends tearing their hair out

Whenever Israel hits the headlines – which tends to be in the context of political controversy rather than, say, world-leading scientific research and innovation – many commentators have an instinct to spring to Israel’s defence. Take the recent conflict in Gaza as an example. Despite the very strong, even obvious, argument of self-defence, which was accepted by the majority of the leaders of the democratic world, and despite the great care with which Israel conducted the military campaign in one of the most challenging conflict zones in the world, the same old accusations flew. Rogue state. Child killers. You know the sort.

Recent events, however, demonstrate why Israel is such a frustrating country to support. In the run-up to the vote at the UN, which resulted in the enhancement of the status of Palestine, I argued that in order to retain the support it had garnered Israel needed to freeze settlement building and respect the Palestinian right to self-determination. This, it seemed to me, was as obvious as Israel's right to self defence. The rights and wrongs of the issue were no longer of primary relevance; without compromising security, Israel needed to make a gesture that would put the ball firmly in the Palestinian court. We’re serious about peace, it should have said. Are you?

The British position, as articulated by William Hague, was in my view spot on. He laid out several key caveats that would prevent the Palestinians from using their enhanced UN status for obstruction and mischief making, and within those terms supported their bid for the next step towards statehood. It is, after all, in the Israeli interest to have a secure state of Palestine existing peacefully along its eastern border. But Israel and the United States staunchly opposed the motion. And now it is Israel’s turn to start the mischief making.

Again Britain is absolutely in the right to summon the Israeli ambassador in response to the approval of thousands of new homes on the West Bank. This move looks to be the final nail in the coffin of the two state solution. Should the E1 area of the West Bank become fully occupied by Israel, there would be little land left over to build a viable Palestine.

Israel's latest move is enough to make its friends around the world tear their hair out. At times like these Israel is a very difficult country to support.